Picture of the Day · NASA
NGC 3660 and Burçin's Galaxy
2026-05-26
The upper galaxy might be more photogenic, but the lower galaxy is more unusual. The galaxy up top is NGC 3660, a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way galaxy in that it has several bright blue spiral arms and a central bar of stars, dust, and gas. Captured by chance in the featured deep and colorful image, surprisingly, is SN 2026cff, a supernova found just to the right of the central bar. Farther in the distance is the bottom galaxy, known informally as Burçin’s galaxy, but formally cataloged as LEDA 1000714. The center of this galaxy appears to be an old elliptical galaxy, but it is strangely surrounded by not one but two rings of stars. What created Burçin's galaxy is a mystery and remains a continuing topic of research, but it likely involves the accretion of one or more smaller galaxies.
via NASA APOD
Key facts
- Discovered by
- M. Wolf and A. Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Observatory
- Discovery date
- 5 November 1901
- Pronunciation
- / ˌ h ɪ p ə d ə ˈ m aɪ ə /
- Named after
- Hippodamia , ( Greek mythology )
- Alternative designations
- 1901 HD · 1941 HK
- Minor planet category
- main-belt (outer) · Cybele family
- Observation arc
- 113.83 yr (41575 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.9570 AU (591.96 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.8093 AU (420.27 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.3832 AU (506.12 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 6.22 yr (2272.9 d )
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hippodamia
- Followed by
- Q156559
- Follows
- Q156534
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +42.771
- Orbital period
- +2273.352193347693
Show 4 more facts
Article
692 Hippodamia, provisional designation 1901 HD, is a stony asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, about 45 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 November 1901, by the German astronomers Max Wolf and August Kopff at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany. Nine years later, the body was rediscovered by August Kopff at its apparition in 1910.
Description